2020-02-19 TOEFL: word roots, reading summary

Greg Malivuk
gmalivuk@staffordhouse.com
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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Word Roots (list 4) - As a group, try to think of one or two words to explain the meaning of each root
icon (iconography, iconoclast, iconic) = image
idio (idiomatic, idiosyncrasy, idiot) = oneself/peculiar
il/im/in/ir (illegal, impossible, inconsiderate, irresponsible) = not
il/im/in/ir (illuminate, impress, inhale, irradiate) = in
	il before L
	im before B, P, M
	ir before R
	in before everything else
infra (infrastructure, infrared) = under
inter (interview, international, intercept) = between/among
intra/intro (intravenous, introvert) = into/inward
ject (interject, eject, inject) = throw/push
junct (junction, conjunction, adjunct) = join
kine (kinetic, kinesthetic, telekinesis) = movement (The Latin spelling of this root was “cine”.)
lab (labor, collaborate, elaborate) = work
lex/lect (lexical, dyslexia, lecture, dialect) = words/read (Also “choose”, like collect/select/elect)
loc (location, dislocation, relocate) = place
luc (translucent, elucidate) = light
lum (illuminate, lumen) = light
macro (macroeconomics, macroevolution) = big
magni (magnify, magnificent, magnate) = great (in size or quality)
mal (malpractice, malaria, malicious) = bad (The opposite prefix is “ben”.)
man/mani/manu (manual, maneuver, manuscript) = hand
mar (marine, maritime) = sea/ocean
mega (megabyte, megastructure, megalith) = huge (also a unit prefix for 1,000,000 or 220)
meta (metamorphosis, metastasis, metabolism) = change
meta (metaphysics, metacognition, metadata) = beyond/about (Metacognition is thinking about thought.)
micro (microscope, microphone, microbe) = tiny (also a unit prefix for 1/1,000,000)
migr (immigrate, migrant) = move (from one place to another)
mis (misbehave, misnomer) = wrong/incorrect
miss/mit (dismiss, transmit, missile) = send
mono (monochromatic, monotonous, monologue) = one
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Large unit prefixes often come from Greek:
(deca = 10)
hecto = 100
kilo = 1000
mega = 1,000,000 = 10^6
giga = 10^9
tera = 10^12
Small prefixes are often from Latin:
deci = 1/10
centi = 1/100
milli = 1/1000
micro = 1/1,000,000 = 10^-6
nano = 10^-9
pico = 10^-12
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Reading Question Types:
- fact
- negative fact
- inference
- reference
- purpose
- paraprhase
- vocabulary
- sentence insertion
- summarize
- organization
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The most common final question for a reading passage is the summary question. You’re given an introductory statement for a short summary paragraph, and you pick the other three sentences that would best fit. (They should be the most important ideas from the passage.)
- A correct answer should summarize at least one complete paragraph, often more.
- Incorrect choices may give true information, but it’s not important or it’s not the main idea.
- Sometimes an incorrect choice looks like it could be a general summary of a full paragraph, but it’s not actually mentioned in the text or it is inaccurate.
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Cambridge exercise R22 - Identify whether each statement is a Summary of the passage, a minor Detail, or information that was Not stated.
Compare your answers as a group. Convince your partners if you disagree.
1 N S D
2 N D S
3 S N D (Not all cigarettes contain nicotine; there’s a sentence about cigarettes without any of it.)
4 D N S (A is only about one sentence of the paragraph. C is the only one you could say to someone else and give them a good basic idea of what you read.)
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BREAK
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Delta exercise 1.8.A - Read/skim each passage and choose the three best summary sentences. Are incorrect choices minor details or are they unstated information? Discuss your answers with your partners and try to convince them yours are correct.
1 A C F
2 B E F
3 B D E
4 A B E (The “older romantic tradition” is “the central theme of love...as the trigger for extraordinary adventures”, which is basically what A says. D is just a list of some examples which don’t help us understand the passage.)
5 A C E
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For summary questions, you get 2 points for all three correct choices, 1 point for just two correct choices, and 0 points if you made two or more mistakes.
If you don’t answer it, you’ll get exactly 0 points on this question.
If you randomly guess, you’ll get an average of 0.55 points on this question.
If you can (correctly) eliminate one answer, you’ll get an average of 0.8 points.
If you can eliminate two answers, you’ll get an average of 1.25 points.
(If you can eliminate three answers, then you get everything correct for 2 points.)
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Sometimes, simply by identifying the main topic of each paragraph, you can choose summary answer choices without reading for any details.
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Cengage exercise 8.1 - Identify the topics of the paragraphs in your own words, then choose the best summary answer choices.
Passage 1
1 economic resources (definition)
2 land and capital (property resources)
3 labor (part of human resources)
4 limited supply of all economic resources
The introductory statement for the summary is basically paragraph 1. Find the choices that summarize the other three paragraphs.
2 - E (This is the most general statement about property resources.)
3 - F (This is more general than C, which just gives some detail about labor.)
4 - B
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Being able to see how the whole passage fits together helps with summary questions as well as purpose questions that are about one or more full paragraphs.
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Passage 2
1 description of the plot
2 the people who created the play
3 popularity of the play
4 movie
D - summarizes the plot (like paragraph 1)
B - the people who created it (2)
C - about the success of the play and the movie (3 and 4)
Passage 3
1 babies aren’t born with full vision
2 physical development of the vision system over time
3 newborn’s eye appearance
4 visual ability at birth (and just after)
5 development of visual abilities over time
- the intro statement summarizes paragraph 1
B - physical development of the eye and visual cortex (paragraph 2)
D - visual abilities at birth (paragraph 4)
E - vision after four months (kind of paragraph 5)
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Homework: finish the handout (passages 4 and 5) and p. 352-355 - Test questions about the passage